Day 70 with David: You don’t have to wonder about God’s love for you.

“But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭52:8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

One thing that is a fast train to disaster in marital relationships is when one of the spouses doubts the love of the other. Sometimes, this is a function of a person’s own insecurities; but other times, it is a function of a manipulative spouse who withdraws affection and approval as a way of controlling their marriage partner. I’ve actually seen this kind of behavior go on for years; one spouse keeps the other guessing as to how they will be treated, always wondering: are they going to leave me? are they going to find somebody else? My friend, that is no way to live and this dynamic leads to a very toxic relationship.

I believe that every normal person wants to feel loved. Sadly, some people will go through their whole lives never actually having felt truly and completely loved. You see, true love is not fickle, looking for a reason to withdraw itself.

Tragically, many people take their insecurities about being loved into their relationship with the Lord. Anytime things don’t go exactly as they wanted, or things happen they don’t understand, they begin to think that God doesn’t love them. Sometimes, when a person messes up they begin to wonder if God still loves them. Now, if you really want to not please God, then just go on doubting His love. You see, that is not acceptable to Him. He has gone beyond what we can even imagine to bring us back to Himself. I like how the Apostle Paul describes the tenacity of God’s love:

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:38-39‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Now understand this, confidence in God‘s love grows as we come to know Him better and better. But this is a process of strengthening a basic confidence in His goodness and love toward us.

“We have come to know [by personal observation and experience], and have believed [with deep, consistent faith] the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides continually in him. In this [union and fellowship with Him], love is completed and perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him]; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love [dread does not exist]. But perfect (complete, full-grown) love drives out fear, because fear involves [the expectation of divine] punishment, so the one who is afraid [of God’s judgment] is not perfected in love [has not grown into a sufficient understanding of God’s love].”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:16-18‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Jesus Christ went the distance, offering Himself for our forgiveness, to prove His great love for us; and, He has never given us a reason to doubt His love.

In our portion from Psalms today we see David extolling the fact that he can trust in God‘s mercy or loving kindness. He uses the example of a tree that is planted, and not about to be moved, as representative of his connection to the love of God.

One thing that continues to strike me as I take a second look at many of these passages by David, is his confidence in the Lord‘s love and goodwill toward him. Even when he had failed miserably, he repented before the Lord in a context of understanding that God truly loved him.

If you struggle with having confidence in the love of God, don’t go on like that. The first step in the right direction is repenting to the Lord for doubting His love. Then live as He lived: loving others and doing good. Operating like Him in this world shows your true connection to His love. Also, when you mess up, quickly repent and pick up where you left off. Don’t complicate your life by wondering if God doesn’t love you anymore. The fact is, no one has ever loved you the way the Lord loves you!

For today let us know and understand what David knew:

You don’t have to wonder about God’s love for you.

#100dayswithdavid